


drive away with me in the rain

by silverkatana



Category: H.O.T. (Band), SECHSKIES (Band)
Genre: M/M, happy endings, i swear it's not angst this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 18:16:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16392695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverkatana/pseuds/silverkatana
Summary: in which jaeduck wants nothing more than to drive away with seungho in the rain.





	drive away with me in the rain

**Author's Note:**

> if you didn't enjoy this it's probably because it's not angst and i'm terrible at writing things that aren't angst so i'd like to apologise in advance

There’s always something indescribably enchanting about the way the roads look at two-thirty in the morning when they’re all barren of cars and slicked grey with the pitter-patter of falling raindrops. 

 

Jaeduck particularly enjoys those rainy nights where he gets to stare out his window, his eyes following the steady trail of water droplets that make their way languidly from messy splatters against glass down in accumulated pools at the base of his window. He takes a certain pleasure in resting his cheek against the comforting cold of the rained-on glass, eyes scanning the barely-visible roads that are so gratifyingly empty.

 

“Go to sleep,” Jaejin mutters to him one night with the covers over his head, already ninety-percent asleep; the rain is a light drip-drop, a soothing lullaby that calls forth a natural instinct to curl up and sleep.

 

He ignores Jaejin’s muffled words, knowing that his roommate would fall asleep whether or not he stayed up - proven in minutes as Jaejin’s grumbles are replaced by slow, steady breaths - and casts his gaze out of the window as he always does. 

 

This time, it’s different. Blaring yellow-white headlights, and a car he’s never seen before appears, curving along the bend with alarming speed. Jaeduck squints, a faint flare of annoyance sparking within him; the serenity he always sought in rainy two-in-the-mornings was destroyed by that one car.

 

And then the car screeches to a halt, and Jaejin mutters a protest in his sleep at the sound, and Jaeduck leans forward instinctively till his breath forms fogged clouds against the glass window, trying his best to see what’s happening. 

 

The rain gets a little heavier, and it goes from a drip-drop to more of a rapid pitter-pattering. The car door cracks open at first, then slams open fully, and a man clad in a black - or it could be some other colour, it’s two-thirty at night and honestly Jaeduck can’t differentiate colours in the darkness anymore - jacket steps out. He looks relatively angry, given the way he roughly shuts his car door with a scowl written all over his features; or at least Jaeduck  _ thinks _ that’s a scowl he sees, but he can’t be too sure.

 

The unexplained anger of the man makes itself increasingly prominent in the way he shouts something to the empty air, and although Jaeduck can’t exactly see the movement of his lips he’s smart enough to deduce that it’s more likely than not a series of swear words; he then kicks at the ground, and Jaeduck nearly yells out because that’s too dangerously close to where he’s growing a bunch of plants, but he refrains himself because he doesn’t know if trampled plants or a sleep-deprived and angry Jaejin is worse.

 

He tries to be as quiet as possible, slipping his feet into his worn pair of home slippers and padding out the bedroom to the living room, where he lingers for a moment and hesitates, watching the odd man still muttering to himself with a relatively confounded expression.

 

Jaeduck wonders if he’s making a stupid decision.

 

_ Too late now, anyway, _ he tells himself as he creaks open the front door.

 

Both of them freeze on the spot.

 

At that point of time, Jaeduck manages to peer closer at the stranger, taking in his visual appearance, the clothes that cover him from head-to-toe, and finally realises how foolish he looks.

 

The man in front of him looks about his age, with hair dyed blonde down to about his chin or perhaps a little lower, and -  _ oh, shit, he’s actually really handsome,  _ Jaeduck realises a little absentmindedly - he’s wearing a pair of rounded spectacles, paired with an all-black ensemble, coupled with a belt that Jaeduck hasn’t seen up close before but is pretty sure that it’s from one of those famous brands. His hand raises a little as he glimpses Jaeduck, almost as though in self-defence, and Jaeduck catches sight of the silver rings that line his fingers and winces a little.

 

So, he’s standing in the rain in front of an undoubtedly rich man in tattered home slippers and baggy pyjamas.

 

“Excuse me,” he voices, “But please don’t kick my plants, I’ve been growing them for a while now.”

 

The man shoots him a look that he interprets as  _ you’re being completely ridiculous right now _ , and he’s almost tempted to run back into his house and to forget that this interaction ever happened, but before his limbs can betray him the man speaks.

 

“Oh.” He stills, arms falling loosely to his side and feet scuffing the ground lightly. “I’m sorry.”

 

“So uh…” Jaeduck raises an eyebrow, although he doubts the stranger can see his expression in the dark. “What exactly brings you here?”

 

The question elicits a tired huff of breath from the stranger, who gestures briefly towards his car. “My car broke down. I was trying to get to at least a rest stop, but clearly it decided to give up on me before I could get anywhere.”

 

Jaeduck doesn’t know whether to be insulted that this rich stranger is calling his house a place in the middle of nowhere, or be relieved that at least he won’t be harming the plants anymore.

 

The raindrops go splish-splash against his exposed skin, and he’s acutely reminded of the fact that the two of them are still standing in the rain. Thinking about the possibility of falling ill from staying out too long, he’s spurred into action; he practically backs into his door and stumbles into the shelter of his living room. “C - come in,” he stammers, holding the door open in as amiable of a gesture that he can make, “It’s raining.”

 

_ Wow, thanks for stating the obvious. _

 

“Thank you.” The words roll off his tongue graciously, and he bows his head just slightly before moving into the house; for someone who practically screams ‘high-class’, he looks awfully out of place standing soaked in rain in the old unfurnished living room of Jaeduck’s, and Jaeduck has to stifle a small bout of laughter. “I hope you wouldn’t mind my staying over for a short while while I call someone to help me to tow my car.”

 

“It’s no problem at all,” Jaeduck is quick in replying, “Would you like a drink?”

 

“If you had warm tea, it would be great,” he responds, and just as Jaeduck is about to move off to the kitchen he bows his head again as though deeply apologetic. “Hold on a moment; I’ve been rude to someone who is sheltering me from the rain. I apologise for lacking the basic courtesy to introduce myself - my name is An Seungho.”

 

“It’s no problem at all!” For someone used to dealing with the daily bantering of co-workers in the little corner coffee shop he works at, or with Jaejin’s unfiltered way of speech towards him, his mind takes a while to process the stranger’s -  _ Seungho’s  _ \- awfully formal way of speaking. “My name’s Jaeduck. Kim Jaeduck.”

 

The tea doesn’t take long to make; he returns with two cups, one for Seungho and one for himself. Seungho wraps his hands around the warm cup and takes a sip, humming slightly in appreciation with a faint smile tinting his lips. “Thank you.” Jaeduck doesn’t quite know how to respond to that, and they lapse into a silence until Seungho breaks it with a, “I’m sorry to ask, but why are you awake at two-thirty?”

 

“I couldn’t sleep.” He decides to answer honestly. “And I like watching empty roads being rained on, especially at night. I like the rain.”

 

“So do I,” Seungho murmurs in agreement, his smile beginning to seem more prominent, “Driving in the rain at night is relaxing; except for tonight, apparently. I’m in Busan for a business trip, but I have some family business back in Seoul and since I couldn’t get a flight at the last minute I had to drive back, but the car didn’t last me.”

 

_ So he’s a businessman from Seoul, huh?  _

 

“I wish I could see what Seoul is like.” The comment slips out of his mouth almost unconsciously, and by the time he realises what he’s said Seungho has heard it too.

 

Seungho sets down his cup, and clears his throat a little. “Ah… you’ve never been to Seoul?”

 

“I’m not from a good financial background,” he confesses, and he doesn’t really know why he’s telling his life story to a man he met minutes ago standing in the rain at his front door, but there’s something about Seungho that compels him to, “I live with my childhood friend in this place, and we go to work at nearby places every day. We live off those earnings, so we can’t really spend much… We were never able to afford to go to Seoul, not when we had work.”

 

Jaeduck never really expected to be sitting at his living room table listening to words of encouragement from a successful businessman (who also happened to be soaked from head to toe in rain). “You’ll get there someday,” Seungho offers with a radiant smile, “Hard work will take you far. Maybe I’ll see you in Seoul soon?”

 

“Maybe,” Jaeduck echoes, even though he’s pretty sure Jaejin would curse him out and call him a ‘traitor’ or something akin to that if he ever travelled to Seoul without him, but they barely have the funds to feed themselves either way, let alone have one of them go across half the country. 

 

Seungho smiles again, and Jaeduck decides that his smile is warmer than any words of encouragement that he would ever hear.

 

At some point Jaeduck realises been subconsciously staring at Seungho for far too long and his tea’s getting cold, and as he dips his head to down the rest of the contents of his cup he briefly wonders if it’s humanly possible to fall in love with someone so very different from oneself.

 

Or perhaps he should be wondering if it’s humanly possible to fall in love with someone he met centimetres away from harming his plants, at the front door of his house, standing frozen in the rain, at two-thirty in the morning.

 

And then Seungho’s phone vibrates and Seungho grabs it with a rushed urgency, and Jaeduck’s startled out of his reverie for a moment as Seungho sends him an apologetic smile before answering the call and speaking in hushed tones. The call ends with a muffled “alright, thank you” and Seungho places his phone back on the table with a sigh.

 

“They’re coming to pick me up and get me back to Seoul in a bit,” Seungho informs him, and he lets a small  _ oh _ escape his lips. “Thank you for letting me stay. I’ll head outside to wait for them.”

 

“Bye,” Jaeduck echoes, and all of a sudden he’s overcome with a deep urge to call Seungho to wait, to stay behind at his old living room table for just a little while longer, to flood him with questions about his life; what’s it like in the city? What does Seoul rain sound like? How does it feel to drive down empty highways at three in the morning? What’s it like to be ordering coffee instead of serving it? Can he go to Seoul with him?

 

Seungho stands, the smile ever-lingering upon his features, and dips his head in thanks. His fingers curl around the doorknob of Jaeduck’s front door, and it strikes the latter then that maybe he’s never ever going to see this stranger ever again.

 

Some part of him adamantly refuses to accept that.

 

“Wait,” he stammers out, his voice sounding half-strangled in his own hearing, “Uh. Take this umbrella while you’re waiting. Don’t get too wet or you’ll fall ill.”

 

Seungho accepts the silver umbrella in stride, taking it in his hand with a thankful upward curve of his lips, before he finally cracks the door open. “Thank you,” he says, “I’ll see you around, maybe.”

 

“Maybe,” Jaeduck whispers.

 

_ I don’t think so. _

 

Five minutes later, at three-something in the morning, another car arrives, all blinding yellow-white headlights and screeching tyres against wet roads. Seungho closes the umbrella and gets in. He doesn’t turn back, and Jaeduck doesn’t open the door a final time to tell him goodbye either.

 

Seungho isn’t aware of Jaeduck watching his every last movement from the window of the living room, though.

 

Jaeduck keeps watching until the car pulls away, throws itself round the bends of the road, and disappears into the night rain.

 

He wishes that the intriguing stranger from Seoul could have stayed a little longer.

  
  
  


Autumn passes, and then winter, and then spring comes. It’s a Saturday night, 2.30am with the world swathed in darkness all over, roads slicked grey with the steady downpour of rain. Jaejin’s long asleep, worn out from a day of working too hard, yet sleep refuses to come easily to Jaeduck; maybe it’s the cup of coffee that he drank far too late after finishing his shifts at work, or maybe it’s just habit that renders him staring out the glass window at the empty roads.

 

And then a car rounds the bend, and the headlights blind Jaeduck temporarily; and then the car glides to a halt outside his front door, he has to choke back a gasp, and his thoughts spin in his head and his breath hitches in his throat as he’s hit with a sense of  déjà vu. 

 

Then a man dressed in dark colours and a pair of rounded spectacles steps out of the car, and this time Jaeduck gasps for real. 

 

He’s almost tempted to wake Jaejin to ask him to slap him as powerfully as possible across the face just to check if he’s dreaming or if this is actually reality.

 

Instead, his legs carry him on instinct out the bedroom and flying-quick across the living room floor to throw open the front door.

 

Standing at his front door under his silver umbrella is the man from Seoul who he thought he would never see again.

 

In the rain, at two-thirty in the morning, An Seungho stands in front of him again like figments of every dream he’s had ever since they met for the first time.

 

He doesn’t know what to say at first, and Seungho is the one to break the silence. “Hey.”

 

“Hello,” he breathes, and somewhere in the more logical section of his mind he concludes that Seungho must be here to return the umbrella, “You didn’t have to come here to return the umbrella.”

 

“It’s fine,” Seungho dismisses with a wave of his hand, “I’m driving back to Seoul and your place is along the way anyway.”

 

“I don’t think it is, unless you take the scenic route,” Jaeduck voices automatically, and feels like slapping himself.  _ Keep your mouth shut, why did you have to say that? _

 

Seungho reacts with a peal of laughter, a sound that Jaeduck finds incredibly attractive even though he manages to keep  _ that _ opinion to himself, thank god. “You’re right,” he admits with the traces of an abashed smile, “I do enjoy taking this route. I love driving at night in the rain. It’s peaceful.”

 

“I wish I knew what it felt like,” Jaeduck mutters under his breath, but apparently his whisper isn’t as soft as he thinks it is, or perhaps Seungho has superhuman hearing.

 

“Come with me,” Seungho says suddenly, and Jaeduck feels his heartbeat slow in his chest.

 

_ Did I hear correctly, or am I just imagining things?  _ he wonders, and replies dumbly with a “I’m sorry, what?”

 

“Come with me,” Seungho repeats, and this time Jaeduck is acutely aware of the fact that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with his hearing. “Drive away with me in the rain.”

 

In all the years of his life, Jaeduck has never heard such a beautiful statement.

 

“It’ll take about five hours by this route,” Seungho continues, “By the time we arrive in Seoul, it’ll be early morning.”

 

“Can I really?” Jaeduck blurts out; there’s no hiding the sheer excitement in his tone. “I mean… Why?”

 

Seungho holds out the umbrella, and extends a hand.

 

“Because you wanted to see Seoul,” Seungho says simply, “So come; drive away with me in the rain. To Seoul.”

 

Jaeduck rushes from his front door, feeling rain droplets sting his face, ducks under the umbrella that Seungho holds out, and takes his hand.

 

“Then let’s go,” he agrees before either of them can change their mind, “Let’s go to see Seoul.”

 

Seungho smiles.

 

The spring rain is cold at night with him in his pyjamas, but perhaps the warmth radiating from within renders him unable to care.

 

_ I’m going to see Seoul. _

 

Seungho’s car tears into motion, and Jaeduck forgets how to breathe as the vehicle races down empty roads accompanied only by the steady splattering of rain against its roof.

 

At two-thirty in the morning, they drive away in the pouring rain.

  
  
  
  



End file.
